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JoJo
Joanna Noëlle "JoJo" Levesque12 (born December 20, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.3 Raised in Foxborough, Massachusetts, she performed in various singing competitions as a child, and after competing on the television show America's Most Talented Kids in 2003, she was noticed by record producer Vincent Herbert who asked her to audition for Blackground Records. JoJo released her eponymous titled debut album in June 2004. "Leave (Get Out)", her debut single, reached number one on the US Billboard Pop songs chart, which made her the youngest solo artist to top the chart at thirteen years old. The song peaked at 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the RIAA.45 The album has since sold over four million copies worldwide to date.6 JoJo's second album, The High Road, was released in October 2006. The album's lead single, "Too Little Too Late", was released in August 2006 and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. She has also released two mixtapes independently, Can't Take That Away from Me in 2010 and Agápē''in December 2012, as well as two EPs, ''LoveJo (2014) and LoveJo2 (2015) following her signing with Atlantic Records in 2014. On August 21, 2015, JoJo launched her return with her triple single extended play III.. As of November 2013, she has sold more than 7 million albums worldwide7 and has sold over 2.1 million albums and 4 million digital downloads in the United States alone.89 In addition to her music career, JoJo also launched a career in acting. She made guest appearances on several television series, beginning with the 2002 American sitcom The Bernie Mac Show, and later in American Dreams in 2004 and Romeo! in 2006. That same year, JoJo made her feature film debut in three Hollywood films Aquamarine RV, and Nathan Phillips 2. She starred in the Lifetime Television film True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet in 2008. She's the current voice of Emma Daniels of the Fox animated sitcom Nathan Phillips. Early life JoJo was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, but raised in Keene, New Hampshire, and Foxborough, Massachusetts. She has Native American, Irish, Polish and French family background. She grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Foxborough in a low-income family.10 Her father, Joel Maurice Levesque (January 8, 1955 – November 14, 2015),11 sang as a hobby, and her mother, Diana Levesque (née Blagden) sang in a Catholic church choir and was trained in musical theater.10 JoJo's parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised as an only child by her mother.12 JoJo's stage name comes from a childhood nickname.13 As a child, JoJo listened as her mother practiced hymns. She started singing when she was two years old by imitating everything from nursery rhymes to R&B, jazz, and soul tunes.10 As a child, JoJo enjoyed attending Native American festivals and acted locally in professional theaters.14 At age seven, JoJo appeared on the television show Kids Say the Darndest Things: On the Road in Boston with American comedian and actor Bill Cosby,1015 and she sang a song from singer Cher. After auditioning in the television show Destination Stardom, JoJo sang Aretha Franklin's 1967 hit "Respect" and "Chain of Fools".16 Soon after, The Oprah Winfrey Show contacted her, inviting her to perform.16 She performed on Maury, on one of the "kids-with-talent" episodes, as well as many others.17 Reminiscing, she has stated that "when it came to performing, I just had no fear." Career 1998–2005: Beginning and JoJo At six years old, JoJo was offered a record deal, but her mother turned it down because she believed JoJo was too young for a music career. After appearing on various talk shows, the McDonald's Gospelfest, performing Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me" and competing on the television show, America's Most Talented Kids (losing to Diana DeGarmo), record producer Vincent Herbert contacted her and asked her to audition for Blackground Records.10 During her audition for Barry Hankerson, Hankerson told her that the spirit of his niece, the late singer Aaliyah, had brought her to him. She was signed to the label, and had recording sessions with producers The Underdogs and Soulshock & Karlin. JoJo's live demo, Joanna Levesque, recorded in 2001, features covers of soul and R&B songs, including Wilson Pickett's 1966 "Mustang Sally", Etta James's 1989 "It Ain't Always What You Do (It's Who You Let See You Do It)", Aretha Franklin's 1968 "Chain of Fools" and 1969 "The House That Jack Built", The Moonglows' 1956 "See Saw", Stevie Wonder's 1972 "Superstition", and The Temptations' 1975 "Shakey Ground". In 2003, at age 12, JoJo signed with Blackground Records and Da Family and began working with producers for her first album. JoJo's gold-certified debut single "Leave (Get Out)" was released in 2004.19 Before the album's release, JoJo embarked on her first ever tour, the Cingular Buddy Bash with pop rock singer Fefe Dobson, hip hop duo Young Gunz, alternative metal band Zebrahead, and teen pop stars Ryan Cabrera and Busted. Like debut tours by Tiffany and Britney Spears before her, it stopped at nine malls, starting at Atlanta's Northlake Mall and ending at South Shore Plaza near her hometown of Foxborough. When the single reached number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, she became, at age thirteen, the youngest solo artist to have a number-one single in America. The first single was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, which made JoJo the youngest MTV Video Music Award nominee.20 Her first album, the platinum-selling JoJo, was released in 2004, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number ten on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, selling 95,000 copies in its first week and reaching the top forty of the UK Albums Chart.19 In December 2004, she was nominated for Female New Artist of the Year and Mainstream Top 40 Single of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards. She is also the youngest artist to be nominated at the Billboard Music Awards. Her second single, released in September 2004, the gold-selling "Baby It's You" – which features rapper Bow Wow – peaked at number twenty-two in the U.S. and number eight in the UK. The final single from the album, "Not That Kinda Girl", was released in 2005 and peaked at number eighty-five in Germany.needed In 2005, JoJo participated in "Come Together Now", a charity single to benefit the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. That year, she was requested by First Lady Laura Bush to perform at the 2004 Christmas in Washington special, broadcast by TNT and hosted by Dr. Phil and his wife Robin McGraw.21 JoJo hosted and performed at the Hope Rocks Concert in 2005 to benefit City of Hope National Medical Center, and co-hosted the 2006 TV Guide Channel's countdown to the Grammy Awards. In 2005, she was offered a role on the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana, but she turned down the role because she was not interested in doing a television show. She was more concerned with being a legitimate artist, and a film career was not really what she saw for herself. 2006–09: The High Road, acting, Nathan Phillips and label trouble In 2006 JoJo was cast opposite Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton in Aquamarine, playing Hailey. The film opened on March 3, 2006, opening at number five with $7.5 million.24 Her second major film, RV, a comedy starring Robin Williams, was released on April 28, 2006. It opened at number one and grossed $69.7 million. JoJo had to audition for the part five times, and eventually replaced an actress who had already been cast in the role. Her third major film role, Nathan Phillips 2, an animated sequel to The Nathan Phillips Movie, was released on June 23, 2006. It received extremely positive reviews from critics and it opened at number one with $211.3 million (a record which was held for three years until it was dethroned by Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs), and grossed $870 million worldwide becoming not only the second highest grossing film of 2006, but it's also the year's highest-grossing animated movie. JoJo's second album, The High Road, was released on October 17, 2006.25 The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 108,000 units.26 It was produced by Scott Storch, Swizz Beatz, J. R. Rotem, Corey Williams, Soulshock & Karlin and Ryan Leslie. It received mainly positive reviews. In the summer of 2006, the lead single from her second album, "Too Little Too Late" (which was heard on the end credits and The Nathan Philips 2 soundtrack), was released to radio stations. "Too Little Too Late" broke the record for the biggest jump into the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, moving from number 66 to number three in one week; this record was previously held by Mariah Carey with her 2001 single "Loverboy", which went from number 60 to number two.2728 The album's second single, "How to Touch a Girl", experienced less success. It charted just outside the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Pop 100. "Anything", was released as a third single to little success.29 The album sold over 550,000 copies and was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2006.30 On July 20, 2007, JoJo's version of "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston leaked on the internet titled "Beautiful Girls Reply".31 It debuted at number thirty-nine on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart one month later. In late 2007, JoJo stated that she would be writing songs for her third album, to be released when she turned 18.3233 She said she wanted her fans to "see growth" in her music.34 In an April 2008 interview, JoJo stated that she was writing and producing an upcoming album in Boston and Atlanta.35 On August 30, 2008, JoJo posted her own version of the song "Can't Believe It", originally performed by T-Pain. On June 3, 2009, JoJo stated on her YouTube account that she was waiting for her record label to sign a distribution deal to release her album.36 In a few months time, nearly 20 of her songs were leaked through a YouTube channel. Her fourth major film role Nathan Philips 3 was released on July 29, 2009. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a box office success grossing $729.8 million. In August 2009, it was reported that JoJo filed a lawsuit in New York against her record label Da Family Entertainment for putting her in musical limbo. She reportedly sought $500,000 for her troubles and to be released from her contract.37 JoJo was released from her contract in October 2009 and a deal was reached with Blackground Records to have JoJo's third album distributed by Interscope Records. In late 2009, JoJo appeared on Timbaland's Shock Value II as a featuring artist on the song "Lose Control". She later appeared on "Timothy Where You Been" with the Australian band Jet as a background vocalist.3839 On September 10, JoJo revealed that she would be traveling to Toronto to film a small screen adaptation of Lola Douglas' True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet and play the role of Morgan Carter, with Valerie Bertinelli and Shenae Grimes. It was broadcast on Lifetime Television on August 9, 2008,40 and released on DVD on March 3, 2009.41